#but his flaws are tragic

[neverenoughmarauders]

In defence of Remus Lupin

On behalf of James Potter who is unable to come to his aid on account of being dead.

I don’t for a second believe James would blame Remus for not checking in on Harry.

Firstly, Sirius proves in the way he questions Harry in POA that he believes Harry to be reasonably happy with his aunt and uncle (which is odd given Sirius sees him run away but nevermind). Why would Remus think any differently? He will have believed Harry to be well taken care of. Remus also trusted Dumbledore like nobody else. If Dumbledore believed Harry to be taken care of, why would Remus doubt it?

Remus should still have checked you say, and yes, had he been healthy, I’m sure James would have agreed.

Which brings me to secondly. Throughout the series we see how little Remus values himself. He doesn’t truly seem to believe it worthwhile to fight to keep his position as DADA teacher, when Harry and his class does. Remus believes that his wife and unborn child would be better off without him. And I’m sure he believed Harry to be better off without him too.

I’m sick of people not understanding how real this feeling of people being better off without him feels like to Remus. He’s shunned all his life for what he is. Even the more progressive people don’t want their children or loved ones around werewolves (as proven by Molly in OOTP at St. Mungo’s). Tonks becomes a target to the woman who does eventually kill her because she married Remus. (There’s a real question whether Tonks could have survived the battle of Hogwarts if Bella hadn’t been so set on murdering her). Would running away have helped Tonks or Teddy? No, but that’s missing the point. Remus believes it would. And Remus would have believed Harry was better off without him.

I can’t possibly know what James would have felt but from what we see of James and Sirius’ friendship with Remus, I think they knew better than anyone how inferior Remus felt, how dangerous and contaminated he believed himself to be.

This assertion is not completely unfounded because so did everyone else. As much as I hate the HBP scene when the whole room talks Remus into marrying Tonks, and as much as JKR does an awful job at selling their story as anything other than a doomed, random and forced relationship - the idea is meant to be that they are both in love with each other. The idea is meant to be that the other adults aren’t pressuring Remus into doing something he doesn’t want to do. It’s meant to be them knowing how much Remus will not date or marry the person he loves because he does not consider himself worthy of it. It should have been a scene that was one more data point on how much Remus’ condition affected his self-worth and life choices. A scene in which in the absence of Sirius and James and Dumbledore, the other people in Remus’ life step up to remind him he’s good enough!

In my view it fails to deliver this completely (and it’s a real tragedy as JKR finally takes time to elaborate on just how affected Remus is by his condition), but ignoring the execution for a second - if Minerva, Molly, Arthur and Tonks could see how much Remus would never believe himself good enough, then James and Sirius would know it a thousand times more.

Of course the confident fanon version is a different story. He should have and would have checked up on Harry. But hating canon Remus for not checking up on Harry shows a lack of empathy in my view. Rewriting the story so that Remus was forbidden to see Harry takes away from the tragedy that is Remus’ life: this idea that he believed the world would be better without him - when so many people know it would be infinitely worse.

[bougiebutchbinch]

Do u ever just think about. Eury sitting on the beach. Waiting for Odysseus after warning him not to go after Circe. Wondering if he'll ever see him again

[salty-an-disco]

I disagree with Narrator in a very fundamental and philosophical level, but you know, even if I agreed 100% with his worldview and the reality he wants to bring about, I’d still think he’s wrong for taking matters into his own hands and changing THE VERY FABRIC OF REALITY affecting people in the entire universe, simply because HE thinks he knows what best for the world.

Like– that’s why I find him so fascinating, it’s not only the fear of death or disgust towards the very concept of change (tho that is very funny and interesting in its own right), but the utter arrogance to champion himself Savior of the World without EVER considering that maybe– just maybe, people might not agree with what he plans to do.

Like. Hubris indeed, and he even has the gall to say, “you can still do what you must and kill her” when we call him out on it. Like. Wow. I want to study this guy under a microscope.

[thelunarfairy]

The painful love

Nene's dream is to be loved by someone, because she was always mistreated by boys…. she gave up her life, "her marriage" to save her best friend, and she will give up all of that if she is by Hanako's side , these are all just details, it's not about marriage, it's about her loving him.

He's a ghost, he can't get married, he can't have children, he can't grow old with her, he can't even leave school, she won't be able to introduce him to her parents, she won't be able to meet his family, no one can see him . All Nene has is the great love she feels for him, and what wins over Hanako most is her desire to stay.

One of the forms of love, regardless of whether it is friendship or romance, is for someone to "stay" for you. Someone chooses to be by your side, even with your story, your past, your hurts and flaws. Nene stood by him, even when no one else did, and this contrasts greatly with his relationship with Tsukasa.

Tsukasa wants to leave, yes, to save Hanako, but Hanako doesn't want to be saved, he wants to be forgiven, he wants to be loved, he wants the people he loves to stay. So, when Nene went after him on the far shore, even though he scolded her, he couldn't hold back any longer. Because she did all that because she wanted to be with him, when not even the person he loves most, Tsukasa, had decided to leave.

She is the only person who wants to stay by his side without thinking twice, no matter what she has to do, she will be there. Even now, even going back in time, she still remembers him, remembers the desire she had to see him in the audience watching her in the play.

It's ironic, because Nene wanted a handsome boy for everyone to see, she wanted to use the boys as a trophy, not to show off, but to show the boys who were mean to her that someone can love her, even with this "flaw." "superficial and futile.

But in the end she fell in love with a ghost, the ordinary boy who is not popular, who no one can see. That was something I loved about the construction of the story, how Aidairo didn't give Nene what she wanted, but what she needed.

To be loved by the boy who finds her "flaw" attractive, to be loved by the boy who protects her, who listens to her, who is there for her. Being loved by the imperfect boy who has his own story and who makes mistakes, who is not the prettiest guy in the class, but who truly loves, no matter how much he tries to hide it, no matter how mysterious he is.

He is afraid that she will find out about him, because he doesn't want her to leave, almost like a silent request "please don't go.." Hanako is a boy who seems to have been abandoned a lot, maybe it only happened to Tsukasa, but even Let it just be him, Tsukasa is the love of his life, not in a romantic way, but he is the person he loves most, and he is gone.

The love between these two is tragic, but true, seeing how the two complement each other, even with the "flaws" and mistakes they make. It's an intense, true love, a continuous struggle between being together or separated by destiny.

Yes, destiny, it is he who is manipulating everything, their destiny is not to be together, but they are fighting against it, even if they have to break the world.

And, I hope, they break the world together with Tsukasa. Because he loves Amane, because he didn't want to leave him, but he had to, it was the only option, because he loves Amane so much that he wants him to live and be happy, even without him.

But for Amane, there is no happiness without Tsukasa, and now, there is no happiness without Nene either.

[thestobingirlie]

there are two aspects of jonathan’s character that seem to get widely ignored by the fandom, and i think it’s one of the reasons his character seems to be misunderstood a lot.

the first being that he was a parentified child (i think a lot of people ignore this because they aren’t willing to accept that joyce isn’t the best mother in the universe, but that’s a different conversation lol). he had to step in and help parent will after his dad left, and tried to intercept to make sure will didn’t see or suffer from the abuse he and his mum did. it’s one of the reasons he’s grown to withdraw from society and put people down. he couldn’t relate to other kids his age, so he secluded himself from them.

the second aspect of his character is that jonathan did, in part, parentify himself. he takes it upon himself to work more hours even when his mum has asked him not to. he’s refusing to go to college despite the fact that they’re clearly more comfortable in life now because he doesn’t know how to let go of the identity that he’s been shielding himself with for most of his life. and a big part of the reason he can’t drop that identity is because he’s convinced himself that it’s what separates him from everyone else. it’s what elevates him above them. he’s not a vapid high schooler that cares about what everyone thinks of them. he’s better than that. but if he loses his status as will’s big brother, who is he? (i think that’s part of the reason he jumps so quickly back into disparaging steve with nancy. steve represents everything jonathan has convinced himself he’s above, and even while he’s lying to nancy about going to college, mocking steve is some form of normalcy for him. even with everything going on in his life, at least he’s still better than steve, right?)

there are a lot of people within the fandom, even his fans, who solely identify jonathan by his position as will’s big brother, and arguably it is hard to examine his character beyond that both because jonathan himself identifies with it and because the duffers have been fairly lax in giving jonathan any other defining characteristics. but idk. i just think it’s kinda sad that even among people that love his character, jonathan never gets to grow beyond the role he was forced to take up as a small child.

[dottyistired]

fiddleford mcgucket and things that go bump in the night

i understand why people like to explore scenarios in art/fic where fiddleford is aware of bill and has face-offs with him while he's in ford's body, or he works with stanley to try and get ford back post-portal incident, but to me personally? nothing beats the canon scenario where he is left entirely in the dark. because it's so horrifying.

you know the principle of horror that the monster is much scarier when it stays in the shadows than when it's revealed, usually towards the end of a story, because until then, it's left to the depths of your imagination to fill in the blanks? fiddleford chooses to not investigate those shadows, and even further enshrouds what he fears in darkness, because he's too scared of what he might uncover. he's the child who refuses to check for the monster under the bed and instead stays awake all night under the covers frozen in terror. that's the appeal of his character to me.

canonically, he doesn't know bill or stan exist. because ford refused to even trust his best friend with the knowledge of his muse, or anything about his past, even the fact that he has a twin. he actively hides childhood photos of him and stan from fiddleford. presumably, in college he kept all their conversations strictly to their interests and passions.

can you blame fiddleford for becoming infatuated with the guy? a talented, bright, yet mysterious individual. he probably longed to slowly break down those walls and gain his trust, learn more about this man who has made an effort to be unknowable. happily offered up stories of his own life back in tennessee, his family and aspirations, and prayed one day ford would do a little of the same. but he respected him too much to pry.

and then, when they reunite, he slowly notices his dear friend acts a little Off sometimes. unnatural. but how well does he really know him anyway? surely he speculates about the life ford is hiding from him, people he may be talking to, mental afflictions he may have, but he can't pin down anything due to how left in the dark he is, and his own fear of asking too many questions and overstepping boundaries. so he can only suspect. ultimately all he knows is there is some sort of evil afoot, and the machine him and ford are building will bring it about. all he has to go off of is his calculations and a vague dread.

until he starts making the choice to forget, which may be a little easier since there's already so much he knows he doesn't know. what's the harm in losing a bit more, especially stuff that is causing him pain?

and so he starts to lose his mind in turn, and he can feel it as it's happening. he knows he can't trust his deteriorating memories. but he can't stop because of the mechanisms of addiction.

and maybe one day, before everything is entirely gone, he's made aware that stanford pines, his ex-friend, has converted his lab into a tourist attraction. not one fiddleford can afford to attend with his increasing reliance on dumpster diving and beggaring to get by, mind you. but perhaps he gets a glance at the proprietor, this man claiming to be stanford pines, and feels that old sense of wrongness in his gut.

he's pretty sure that's ford's face, but something's off about it. and his hands. something's wrong with his hands. didn't ford have something with his hands? fiddleford didn't notice it at first in college until ford pointed it out because he's mighty insecure about it, but he's forgotten what it was. but honestly, how much of his own fragmented memories can he even trust?

he feels a shiver down his spine. perhaps it's best to forget about stanford pines altogether.

[hylialeia]

not going to bug people in the tags but it is (legitimately!) interesting to see a character in asoiaf who is so clearly meant to be the traditional fantasy red herring chosen prince, and to see people - including the readers! - gravitate towards that romanticism, often unquestioning. I think one of asoiaf's major motifs being "ruling is hard" (see GRRM's thoughts on Tolkien) and that consistently showing up across every pov regardless of their morality or ideals or circumstances, yet both people in universe and in fanbase stalwartly believing that surely this does not or will not apply to their ruler... now, that IS fascinating

[fuckedupwizard]

someone: it's such a disservice to shen jiu's character to defang him and act like he isn't really a child abuser, or the abuse wasn't that bad, or he didn't know what he was doing, and to take away the bitterness and resentment that is a huge part of his personality. him being kind of twisted is exactly what makes him fascinating. his suffering was utterly tragic but he should not have perpetrated it onto another.

me: YES! EXACTLY! THANK YOU

someone: that's why i wish people who like him could just admit that he sucks, and he's totally pure irredeemable scum with no good qualities, and his character is NOT deep or complex. he didn't even really care about yue qingyuan, he was too selfish for that, he just wanted him for protection and when that failed to guilt him for the rest of their lives. and no universe would change this, he probably kicks puppies for fun, and

me: ok hold on now. shut up?

[blasphemousclaw]

If you don't mind me picking your brain, howdya think Rykard went from "ruthless justiciar" and head of the Inquisition to "These pagans are cool actually"

oh my god YES I was hoping someone would ask me about this one day because I think about this a lot

Essentially, I don’t think Rykard was ever truly an Erdtree zealot for several reasons.

Firstly, he has a unique background for someone who enforced Erdtree law: his mother is a legendary sorcerer, who once fought against the armies of the Erdtree in battle. Growing up as Rennala’s son, we know he distinguished himself as a talented glintstone sorcerer, an art once seen by the Erdtree forces as heretical. Basically, Rykard has heresy in his blood — I think his background gives him an inherent sympathy to other practices deemed heretical to the Golden Order. We know he developed an interest in reviving the “ancient hexes” of Mt. Gelmir, an interest which is specifically identified in the text as stemming from his mother’s influence:

“After discovering the ancient hexes of Gelmir, Rykard, son of Queen Rennala, brought them back into practical use as new forms of sorcery.”

Rykard comes from a long line of heretics, who instilled in him a sorcerer’s curiosity.

So why did Rykard become praetor in the first place? We don’t technically know at what point Radagon left Rennala, but I think it makes the most sense if Rykard was propelled to his position as praetor after his father became Elden Lord. While married to Rennala, Radagon was regarded as a “mere champion,” with Rykard and his siblings being royalty in Liurnia alone… it makes more sense that he’d rise to the position of chief justiciar in Altus after Radagon married Marika and he became a demigod step-child. Basically, he nepo-babied his way to a powerful government position… a position that gave him a prestigious reputation, a foothold in altus, and a standing army — more power than he ever could have achieved if he stayed in Liurnia, since his sister Ranni is stated to be the sole heir of Caria (Caria was likely matriarchal; it doesn’t seem like Ranni’s brothers stood to inherit much of anything).

There is also a relevant detail from the Blasphemous Claw description:

“On the night of the dire plot, Ranni rewarded Praetor Rykard with these traces. Should the coming trespass one day transpire, they would serve as a last-resort foil, allowing Rykard to challenge Maliketh the Black Blade, the black beast of Destined Death.”

Rykard colluding with Ranni before the Night of the Black Knives shows that Rykard’s later treason was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but something pre-meditated. Ranni rewarding Rykard with traces of the Rune of Death with the intention to challenge Maliketh indicates that the siblings shared talks of treason leading up to this event — while Rykard was still praetor.

Rykard performed his job with brutal efficiency to the point that he garnered a “ruthless” reputation. But I don’t think he ever did this job out of pure loyalty to the Erdtree; rather, I think he did this job because he will do absolutely anything to achieve power and to gain the upper hand. I think he always intended to build up strength so that he could eventually topple the Golden Order which he so chafed under and place himself in charge; a “worthy sovereign.” And I believe that just as Rykard’s position as praetor was a means to this end, so too was his obsession with the Great Serpent — an obsession that spiraled out of control into “mere greed” for power.

[amarriageoftrueminds]

I ended up doing a long old rant on this other post, about the problems with the Steve/Bucky characterisation in CATFA, how it fails to make them mutual in their support / fails to properly show Steve's struggles and independence, before serum.

And I was thinking...

what would you have to do, if you wanted to write a CATFA or pre-war Stucky fic and wanted to fix all those problems?

So I figured I'd make a list!

Pardon me while I rip CATFA a new one...

.

Problem 1) Pre-serum Steve acts as if he's independent and self-reliant without Bucky... when the opposite is shown.

A) He doesn't have a job.

(He isn't shown working, doesn't mention working, or taking time off to do the things we see him doing etc. Bucky is framed as paying for things.)

If the fic is set during CATFA you could fix that by mentioning Steve does have a job but has been given time off to go enlist. Or has just been fired from his job. Basically anything to show that Steve has had a job, has been working. Perhaps even had multiple simultaneous jobs!

Probably cut out the part where Steve scoffs at working in a factory or collecting scrap metal (more likely he'd admire and/or understand why both of those are viable options; maybe they're jobs he has done in the past and is biased against now, for some experiential-related reason.)

Or, if he still does not want to work in a factory... well, at the time, with most men being overseas, factory work would've been women's work. So perhaps Steve was reluctant because it feels emasculating. Or maybe even dysphoric, to be relegated to otherwise female-only spaces, instead of welcomed into (then) male-only spaces like the Army? 🤔

(This would especially ring true if you were doing a trans!Steve story, or emphasising the disability aspect of his life. And it would cycle back when he gets stuck in the USO, doing women's work again.)

B) It would also be better characterisation if pre-serum Steve was actually already good at fighting, but just happened to be outclassed by heavier weight opponents, and/or handicapped by sudden disability flare ups mid-fight.

(In the tie-in comic, Bucky taught him how to box. Why not keep this? It really makes sense!)

The ability to fight and win should be a matter of Steve's spirit, not his physical body or his training. It shouldn't arrive with serum.

(To put it in His Dark Materials terms; Will Parry has a warrior's daemon, even when he's a 12 year old boy; he can win a contest against a grown man or even an armoured polar bear! Likewise, Steve Rogers is supposed to be the David who can win against a Goliath - yes, even when he's the little guy.)

I know it's easy to have Bucky swoop in to save Steve from a fight he's losing disastrously. But it would be more gripping (and make Bucky's value shine more), if Steve was actually winning the fight, despite being the underdog, and then something completely out of his control happened that tipped the tide against him, and then Bucky arrived to save him!

And also it would make more sense if Steve's health at the time of CATFA was in a lifetime high point, (possibly because of Bucky's long term support).

Then it would be less nonsensical to be trying to lie his way into the Army. There has to be some actual common sense logic behind his choice, so that he's not essentially snapping 'Bucky why won't you support me committing suicide, gdi??'

Steve shouldn't be getting his first real win by knocking down a flagpole; he should've been showing this capability in his pre-war / pre-Army time, too.

Possible Example:

You could emphasise the idea of Steve entering a fight he knows he's going to lose, in order to accomplish a secondary goal that the enemy doesn't recognise.

IE. Steve fighting the bully in the alleyway -- he loses the fight, but succeeds in stopping the bully from making a scene in the cinema, which was his original goal. So mention it!

(Steve could be like 'winning this fight wasn't the point.' And Bucky could be like 'ah, so what were you distracting him from?')

Perhaps Steve's secret goal in joining the war isn't to win the fight against Nazis, but to distract Nazis from Bucky?

.

Problem 2) The support is imbalanced; Bucky's doing all the emotional, financial, and physical labour in the relationship.

You could fix that by showing how pre-serum Steve was not only mutually financially supportive of Bucky (in the sense of having a job), but was also supporting Bucky emotionally and physically, just as much as Bucky supported him. He could be doing at least 2 of the 3!

Possible Examples:

Bucky going through an emotionally hard time that pre-serum Steve pulls him through (just as Bucky did with Steve's Ma).

Steve treating Bucky's wounds after a fight, just as Bucky treats his. (If Bucky's a boxer, like the tie-in comic, then Steve could be his cut man when he's in the ring!)

Steve paying for some of their expenses, or finding places to take Bucky that are free when it's his turn to plan a day out, etc.

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Problem 3: Sarah & problem 2.

If this is CATFA / post-death setting, show flashbacks or make references to Steve visiting her in hospital, or doing the work of nursing her himself / sitting by her bedside if she died at home, paying for her medicine, etc.

So that it's not just another example of Bucky wholly carrying Steve; show the balance. Maybe Bucky was temporarily footing the bill so that Steve could afford to quit his job and do the nursing at home. Both putting the work in, in different ways.

(This would be a perfect example of one way Bucky's experience of looking after sick Steve would pay off, and make him able to teach Steve how to do it when the roles are reversed.)

Better yet, a show-don't-tell of Sarah instilling Steve's moral compass and tenacity; maybe even some Bucky POV to show her impact isn't just relegated to Steve.

Her absence could also be shown in present day with Steve, eg. packing up his things to go to basic and having to leave behind some keepsake of hers. In the comics Steve carried her photo. Perfect candidate to put in his compass!

.

Problem 4: The relationship is framed as transactional.

Less of 'I'll do X for Bucky now because he did Y for me back then'

and more of 'helping Bucky is the right thing to do because he's innocent, so I'm going to do it regardless of outside whining, and he would still do the same thing for me, or anyone else, because he's a good person too.'

There has to be more to it than just convenience, needing each other around to help; there has to be an actual desire to be together for pure enjoyment, too.

IMO you'd need at least one scene where Steve and Bucky aren't benefiting in some way from spending energy on eachother. They're just... happy being together.

And perhaps Bucky isn't the only friend pre-serum Steve could have had, just the one Steve most wanted to stick with. (His options should amount to more than 'Bucky or no one.')

Perhaps Steve's health absences and strong principles drove other friendship prospects away? Perhaps Steve even lost other disabled friends to their poor health, poverty, etc?

.

Problem 5: A's problems are framed as B's.

No more 'Steve getting attacked' being framed as a problem for Bucky.

No more 'Bucky being drafted to die' framed as a problem for Steve.

Better characterisation would show these bad things affect the victim first and foremost, and only/also the other one, secondarily.

Steve shouldn't be seeing Bucky's shipping-out uniform (skipping right over thank yous and congratulations) and talking about how that's sad for... himself.

Steve shouldn't be sabotaging Bucky's last night of freedom in NYC to spend it on... his own goals.

Sidenote: Bucky wanting to spend his last night of freedom with strangers is such idiotic writing anyway, when he has both Steve and a living family with whom he could be spending those last precious moments! And dragging Steve on a double blind date he clearly doesn't want to go on is counter-productive. It undermines the mutually-supportive / mutually communicative relationship Steve and Bucky should logically have, as lifelong inseparable best friends (viz. a Bucky who's known Steve this long should be able to tell he's not into it.) And it shifts the blame for Steve's singlehood off of him and onto Bucky, and women generally.

Steve shouldn't be detailing why he's so keen to fight, and focusing on random men he doesn't know, not directly/unequivocally mentioning Bucky at all.

(Indirectly, he wants to be like the men laying down their lives -- so... like Bucky? But this is still nonsense. He should want to be there to support Bucky, not to copy!)

It's likewise nonsense for Bucky, who has known Steve since he was a child, to ask Steve why he's keen to fight.

Bucky doesn't need to ask. Bucky already knows!

Lazy clumsy exposition.

And the narrative should be showing us why Steve wants to fight Nazis, rather than having Steve infodump some vague reason without anything to back it up.

Speaking of which...

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Problem 6: Lack of explicit politics.

Like in the comics, Steve's reasons for fighting Nazis should be explicitly left wing and political, as well as passionately personal.

(Wanting to be like able-bodied men who get girlfriends is complete cringe incel bullshit as a motivation and not true to the comics, or CEvans's performance!)

Proper Steve characterisation should have him behaving in a way that shows he's a man ahead of his time in terms of Antifa politics, and that's why he wants to fight.

IE. happily sharing housing and schooling with people of other races, ethnicities, and religions. (Especially so when he has been in the same SEC as them / been in multiple different schools and lived in various neighbourhoods as a poor kid. Would also establish why both Steve and Bucky are fine having Gabe and Jim on their team!)

Not judging and mistreating disabled people the way he is.

Not judging unmarried mothers, belittling working women, expecting his mother to do all the housework, etc.

Not freaking out about the existence of queer people in public (even in an AU where he isn't one) defending gay men from attack as he does in the comics,

protesting and/or sabotaging public Nazi meetings in NYC, fighting with homegrown Nazi bullies especially,

ditto corrupt business owners / mafia union-runners as he does in the comics, etc.

(Sidenote: as a congenitally disabled person, Steve is also a target of Nazi rhetoric himself. So he would be personally concerned with fighting Fascism, and perhaps this was his philosophical springboard to recognising and combating all the other bullshit in its thinking, even when it's entrenched in American society.)

Basically, the Hydra saboteur should not be the first Nazi Steve ever got his hands on!

And Bucky should be an addendum when it comes to his reasoning. The heart of Steve's motive, where politics are the guts.

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Problem 7: No disability rep.

A) Steve should not be saying that he, a disabled man, shouldn't have the 'right' to do less than able-bodied men, even though it is literally physically impossible...

...UNLESS, this internalized ableism is addressed in-story, rather than treated as if it's normal and even noble.

Other characters can be ableist; Steve should not (not only is he disabled himself, but he's supposed to know better!) ....unless it's part of an arc that shows him learning the error of his ways.

And that's a slippery slope when you consider that Project Rebirth, started by Nazis, really is a Eugenics project.

Instead of this suicidal ideation, it could be shown that Steve's health has recently become good enough for him to survive and succeed in the Army. And/or that Steve is passionate about fighting fascism, personally, because he belongs to a class of people whom Nazis believe shouldn't be allowed to exist.

Without Steve arguing that he should throw his disabled life away, just because able-bodied men are taking a significantly lesser risk of dying than him.

B) There should be actual details of Steve's disabilities, what they are and how they affect him. (Him - not Bucky.) In a way that has concrete negative consequences, beyond just not getting into the Army.

Possible Examples:

Kid!Steve being held back a year at school because of missing days due to sickness. (Kids can be cruel and parents can be ignorant; he might've been bullied and ostracised for being sick and believed contagious. And that's before the consider the amount of isolation necessary for recovery periods.)

Kid!Steve having to move around a lot (which would also affect which school he'd have to attend; always the new boy!) because losing money to medicine affects what his mother can afford, affects her work schedule when she has to look after him. Living in a worse place would then exacerbate his pre-existing symptoms, and so on.

Adult!Steve losing a job because of sick days, losing savings to pay for medicine, getting sick again because he chose heating and groceries over medicine, or vice versa, etc.

(This / the moving-around might be mitigated if he and Bucky are living together, meaning Bucky could make up the shortfall.)

Steve could lose friendships, job opportunities, or romantic partners due to sickness repeatedly taking him out of social circulation. He might also have disabled friends who lost the fight / weren't as lucky as him.

You could also play into the Nazi eugenics then endemic to the USA and have medical professionals telling Steve he shouldn't be alive; 'well-meaning' people offering to pray for him, saying they'd have just 'given up' if they were born like him, etc. (Or even saying these things to his mother!)

And Steve should, maybe, mention once or twice that he feels better after serum, and truly couldn't be doing what he's doing in Europe, if superserum hadn't also cured all his ailments?

If he's much more peppy afterwards, it should be because for the first time in his life he can actually breathe and spring out of bed!

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Problem 8) The Incelery.

Pre-serum Steve should not be framed as undateable because he's short and disabled.

If Steve hasn't had a girlfriend, it should be because he didn't want one, not because he's incapable; not because evil women are repulsed by invisible health issues or Bucky is too dreamy for a disabled man to possibly compete with, be so fr. 🙄

You could fix this by making Steve: gay,

ace,

demi,

coincidentally surrounded by lesbians,

by women who have horrible unattractive politics,

too sick or busy with work to date,

getting attention but it's the wrong kind (ie. women who want to fetishize or nanny him),

and/or being very attractive to women even before serum but oblivious and/or simply not interested. 😂

/more than one of the above.

.

[year2000electronics]

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE!!!

[yavin42]

just finished the second season of black sails and i gotta say i understand why it makes queers go feral

[galeofquarterdeep]

Cal Kestis always seeing the good in people is my Roman Empire. It costs him so much and he still does it because that's just how he is. It's him.

He puts himself between Jaro Tapal and the Clones because he not only want to protect his master, he believes that the clones wouldn't hurt an unarmed child.

And yet, he understands. He tells BD-1 this. That he knows that it wasn't the Clones' fault. Somehow, he understands and he's able to forgive them.

He trusts Trilla to make the right choice in the end. He sees something in her that no one else was able to see.

He himself knows that his habit to always see the good in everyone or believe that it's there will someday either be his death or be the death of someone he loves. And it happens ... He loses someone who means so much to him.

And he still sees the good until he has no other choice but to believe it's gone. He didn't pull the trigger at first. He hesitated because he still hoped.

[nthflower]

Kim bestie why your political opinions so shit 😭😭

[hella1975]

complicated relationship with taob be damned i have never peaked higher than i did when i was studying tragedies for my english class and wrote the fever dream chapter

[spunkykirby]

someone did make an interesting point somewhere else

people inflate unrealistic levels of aggression between zhongli and neuvillette on a such personal level when in reality all of the negative projections we're conflating with these two (regarding the dragon-archon clash) would likely be more associated with Ei (or at least at the heightened level powerscalers project on neuvili) 😭

this isn't an Ei hate post, just pointing out her own past mistakes and flaws that would clash with the crying dragon at a higher level than some other archons